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Fumbling had not been a problem for Marion’s starting offense so far in practices, but it was in Friday night’s soap scrimmage.

Head coach Grant Thierolf had to stop practice more than once so the offense could do up-downs for its turnovers, shouting that it is important to take care of the football.

“Everything we did tonight is fixable, so we’ll go back and see, watch the film, really concentrate on getting us better through this week, and go where it goes on Friday night,” Thierolf said.

He said some of the fumbles could have resulted from moisture getting on the ball, but that can’t be an excuse in game situations.

“We’ve got some work to do, and basically it’s mental,” senior lineman Morgan Wheeler said. “That’s the hardest thing to take care of, but we can.”

Wheeler said the team has the athletic ability to make a playoff run, but it will take more than just talent.

“It all depends on how bad we want it and how bad we’re going to work in practice,” he said. “That starts with me and anyone and everyone on the team.”

Thierolf said he was happy with how his second units played, but better yet, no one was injured.

“That’s by far the most important thing,” he said.

Getting players back that were not healthy last week is now a priority for the team’s first game against Ell Saline.

“We had a couple of kids that were out, and we just have to do what we can to get healthy and get our full team back,” Thierolf said. “We don’t know what Ell-Saline’s going to do. It’s just a matter of focusing on what we identify from this scrimmage, and continuing to get those things better.”

The Warriors open the regular season against the Cardinals at 7 p.m. Friday at home.

“We know the first game you’re going to make mistakes, and we don’t want to be playing our best football right now,” Thierolf said. “We want to be playing our best football toward the end of the year.”